Chapter 27 - Heavy Metal

CRUNCH!

A deafening crash erupted the moment he finished speaking. The ornamental iron bars set into the wall bent of their own accord, moving like living snakes to impale the intruder's ankles and thighs.

"G-ghk...!"

Hurled to the ground, the assassin raised his head with a groan of pain. A massive shadow stood before him, backlit by the moon.

Armor shaped like a wobbling roly-poly toy. How could those rounded curves, which had looked so ridiculous, inspire such terror?

"This is my fortress. No one in their right mind would think of invading my home."

Calinder clenched his fist. The pointed iron fence surrounding the garden gave a hideous shriek. Its firmly anchored posts began to writhe like boneless creatures.

"G-ghk...!"

The man had no time to react. Thick iron bars bent like soft taffy, coiling tightly around the neck of the assassin rolling on the ground and hoisting him into the air.

"G-ghhhh!"

The dangling assassin thrashed desperately. He struggled with all his might to pry away the cold metal digging into his neck. His legs kicked at empty air, his gloved hands clawing at the bars.

It was no use.

Calinder casually twisted his clenched hand.

CRACK.

With a sickening snap, the limbs flailing in midair fell limp.

"... Dead already?"

Calinder exhaled in disappointment, then slowly crossed the garden. Crimson eyes flashed through the narrow slit of his rounded helmet, searching every dark corner.

HISSS.

Hot steam vented through the gaps in his armor. He stood perfectly still, listening for another rat's breathing amid the night wind.

Then—

SLASH!

The sound of a sharp sword slicing flesh tore through the silence. Calinder turned his head. Through his heavy helmet, he caught sight of a familiar silhouette.

His eldest son, Dyer Hasgard.

CRASH!

Another assassin burst out of the darkness and slammed into a pillar. Smearing it with blood, he slid down, spattering more across the ground.

"I... I'm sor..."

Dyer's eyes were icy as he looked down at the man crawling and begging on the ground.

SHUNK.

Instead of answering, Dyer stabbed him in the thigh.

"Please, please...!"

SHUNK.

Without a change of expression, Dyer drove his sword in again. There was no hesitation, no mercy.

Twice. Three times.

As though toying with him, the blade plunged deep, deliberately avoiding vital spots.

"..."

Soon, the pleading mouth closed forever.

"Son."

Calinder's deep voice cut through the night air. At his call, Dyer pulled his sword from the corpse. Fresh red blood dripped from the blade onto the ground. He roughly wiped his blood-spattered face with his sleeve and looked impassively at his father.

"Your skills have improved."

Calinder looked down at the hacked-up assassin. He spoke knowing how markedly Dyer's attitude toward training had changed since the Subjugation Festival.

"I'm still not good enough. When I think of how I couldn't help Romans and Daywin that day, I still..."

"There's no need to vent your anger, son. These aren't the same men. Their methods are different."

"Are they? I failed to notice sooner. But Father, where is Mother...?"

WHOOSH—THUD!

A weapon burying itself in the garden cut Dyer off. A battle-axe with a blood-red blade had sunk deep into the lawn.

"..."

Dyer and Calinder looked simultaneously toward the direction it had come from. Lady Hasgard stood there in elegant silk nightclothes. Brushing back her disheveled hair in apparent irritation, she strode over and effortlessly pulled the axe free with one hand.

CRACK.

The muscles in her arm drew taut.

"Going somewhere?"

Once again, she aimed the axe at the back of an intruder trying to slip away.

"D-dear! We need to leave one alive!"

WHOOSH!

Without hesitation, she hurled the axe again.

"Y-you fucking..."

CRUNCH!

But the scream of the assassin attempting to scale the wall vanished into the darkness with a heavy impact.

"R-run! Now!"

"Get out of here!"

The few survivors screamed and sprinted toward the wall. They had long since abandoned any pretense of stealth. Shoving and trampling one another, they desperately scrambled up the wall to escape the mansion.

Meanwhile...

"..."

A shadow watched the gruesome slaughter from atop a tall tree outside the mansion.

RUSTLE.

Leaves swayed in the wind, alternately hiding and revealing the approaching dawn. Blending perfectly into the darkness, the shadow watched with emotionless eyes as the Hasgard family butchered the assassins.

'Lord Karma really was right...'

He swallowed hard. The mansion's grounds had already become a slaughterhouse. The head of the house, the eldest son, even the lady of the house—every last one of them wielded inhuman might.

'I think I understand why the Fourth died... They were far too strong.'

FSSST.

The elite Houndry operative pulled a match from inside his clothes and struck it hard. A red flame bloomed in the darkness with the acrid smell of sulfur.

"Reporting in."

He whispered softly to the flickering flame—to the master who would be on the other side.

"Lord Karma, we've confirmed it."

The flame flickered strangely, as though receiving the signal.

"We'll follow the assassins who escaped."

He blew out the match and leaped away to tail the terrified, fleeing assassins.

027

I flicked the match back and forth, putting out the flame.

Of course they contacted me when I couldn't use the ring.

The chairman had written to say he had good news, bringing me back to the academy for the first time in a while. My matchbox had suddenly vibrated, so I'd hurried into the restroom to check it.

As expected, my family had demonstrated that they were still going strong.

It suddenly struck me just how much grief and loss Romans's death had brought us. Not just Father, Mother, and the eldest Hasgard—it had turned me, already a shut-in, into even more of a wreck. Consumed by guilt and regret, I'd been unable to do anything.

I'd done nothing.

Until the rest of my family died, too.

But this time, so much had changed. We would no longer face the same future. Trusting that, I'd planted Houndry operatives nearby in advance. Thanks to them, I could now begin hunting the Death God's cult in earnest.

Another band of assassins had attacked House Hasgard. Following them would eventually lead us there.

To the Death God's cult.

I had no intention of waiting until they were ready to run rampant. This wasn't a cartoon where you politely waited for the enemy to transform.

The Five Lamps. The necromancer, too.

I'd wipe them all out early.

"My sponsor...?"

A voice interrupted my thoughts. As I'd said, this was the academy. Even early in the morning, there was every chance of running into a female student.

Naturally, that included Esther—the only girl among them who called me her sponsor.

"W-wow, it's been... been a while..."

Esther blinked as though unable to believe her eyes.

"It's been quite a while since the second semester started, but I hadn't... seen you, so I wondered if you'd forgotten me..."

"Forgotten you? Of course not."

Actually, I had forgotten her.

I hadn't given her a thought... .

The first heroine, arguably a symbolic one. I'd put a lot of effort into her early on because she was essential for the Subjugation Festival, but lately Lucia, Amelia, and the other women had driven her out of my mind.

Had I last seen her when we returned to the marquisate? I thought we'd exchanged a few words after getting off the train, before I went to see Marquis Fred, and then parted ways.

"I sent you letters, too... Did you read them?"

Letters?

What letters?

Oh, right. We had talked about that.

["There are still two whole months of vacation left. What should I do next?"]

["Do? There's nothing left for you to do. Yes, this would be a good chance to rest. Your first semester here was eventful in all sorts of ways."]

["Um... didn't you say you'd need me during vacation? I thought there would be more to do. You've seemed preoccupied ever since the Subjugation Festival... Is there anything I can help with?"]

["Something you can help with... If everything goes to plan, there won't be."]

There would be no one to save while I cleaned out Houndry.

Only people to kill.

["I wish... I could help again."]

["I'll contact you if anything comes up."]

["Oh, yes! I'd like that...!"]

["Esther, are you sure you don't need to visit home? As you said, there's still plenty of vacation left."]

["Oh, it's fine. It's not really enough time to make the round trip. And since you explained things to them before, they won't be worried. But... where are you staying? I mean... I'd need to know if I wanted to... write to you."]

At that, I'd written the address in my notebook, torn out that section, and handed it to her.

Right.

That was what happened.

["Here. Contact me if anything urgent comes up."]

["Does it have to be urgent?"]

["Hm?"]

["Would you mind... if I wrote simply because I wanted to?"]

Esther looked up at me, eyes wide.

["I don't see why I would."]

["... Heh."]

The moment I answered, she smiled playfully.

["Then I'll write to you here. Thank you again for giving me such a wonderful opportunity."]

My last memory was of Esther bowing deeply, a radiant smile on her face.

... Why had I forgotten until now?

Worse, the address I'd given her was for the luxury inn where I'd been staying temporarily in the marquisate. After that, I'd unexpectedly changed lodgings. Becoming Karma had given me all sorts of things to do. Going back and forth between the inn and Houndry was a nuisance, so I'd simply stayed at the hideout.

I hadn't gone back to that inn for the entire vacation.

"R-right, your letters. Of course I read them."

In other words, I'd never seen a single letter.

"Ahaha... Of course you did... Since you never replied, I thought you hadn't read them."

"I meant to reply, but it slipped my mind. I'm sorry."

"It was, how should I put it... like I'd disappeared for about a hundred pages... That's how it felt."

Then, in a flash, the look in Esther's eyes changed. The life drained from them. Perhaps I'd chosen the wrong dialogue option, because for a moment she became someone else.

Someone else.

Someone like the person I'd seen in Ending 29.

Esther Hellfire.

"Somehow, it feels like... not just you... but lots of people had forgotten about me... Ha... ha, hahaha..."

This...

Wasn't this a little dangerous...?

The image of a city engulfed in flames flashed through my mind.

I had to fix this before—

"I'm fine. I understand."

Suddenly, Esther smiled softly.

"I know you've been busy. I was a little... sad that you didn't reply, but I understand. After everything that happened, you must have had so much on your mind. Is your family all right now?"

Her smile was warm, truly like a goddess's—enough to make me repent for thinking her nickname was so cringeworthy.

I'd ignored her letters for over two months, yet she said she understood. Instead, she worried about me and asked if I was all right.

She wasn't a heroine for nothing.

"They're fine, thanks to you. In fact, I just heard from them. They're doing well. Mother especially."

"That's a relief. I'd like to say hello to them, too. Hehe..."

"Why are you laughing?"

"I remembered how kind the Hasgards were to me. Thinking about it still makes me... happy."

"I see. We're grateful to you, too."

"I only did what you asked me to. Oh, it's my turn to tidy the classroom, so... I'd better go."

"All right."

Esther bent into a deep bow, then left for her classroom.

Watching her retreating figure—especially the silver hair that bounced with every step—I switched on the Affection Scouter.

Esther's affection currently stood at 50.

About halfway full.

"Good thing I raised it beforehand..."

The sudden change in her eyes had startled me, but it didn't seem to be time to worry yet. Besides, she was still infatuated with Laward, surely. My failure to reply—not Laward's—couldn't have dealt that devastating a blow to her mental state.

I breathed a sigh of relief and headed to the chairman's office.

After we'd exchanged greetings and news, settled onto the sofa, and even had a sip of tea—

"Ta-da! The paladin order is coming to visit!"

Looking happier than I'd ever seen him, the chairman thrust an official letter at me.

"And the commander himself is coming! Can you believe it? Am I dreaming? Lord Daywin, give me a slap!"

"Pardon? Well, then... clench your teeth."

"I-I was only... speaking figuratively. My apologies. I got carried away."

The excitable middle-aged man straightened his tie, quickly regaining his usual composure.

"At any rate, the commander is coming in person!"

"That is surprising. To think Blash would..."

"Blash?"

"... A slip of the tongue. Please forget I said that."

"Surely he's coming to see Laward?"

His eyes sparkled like a child's awaiting a present.

"It couldn't be anyone but Laward. Not only does he have the highest marks in the academy's history, he's also as devout and diligent as you'd expect of an aspiring paladin."

He paused, then continued in a slightly lowered voice.

"And Lord Daywin, though I don't know why, there are even rumors that Laward wiped out the criminal guilds in the Sixth District."

"Haha, how very mysterious."

"To attract this much attention when he's only a first-year... It's wonderful. You must be delighted as well, Lord Daywin."

"Yes... delighted."

As the chairman said, Laward had done well within the scope of what he could do. Letting him run wild at Houndry seemed to have paid off, too.

I remembered the day I'd returned to the past and opened my eyes in my room. The day I'd sworn to make Laward a paladin.

Had the moment I'd been waiting for finally arrived?